One of the main catalysts for the DUP’s increasing isolation is its prominent role in the Brexit process. The party obviously supported the Leave campaign during the 2016 EU referendum, buoyed by the belief that Brexit would lock NEI into the union with the UK and hoping upon hope that supporting the hardest of Brexits would lead to another physical British border on the island of Ireland, border posts n’all.
The DUP’s uncompromising stance on the Irish border issue has garnered criticism, not only from the Irish government, nationalist parties, and the EU but also from elements within the Conservative British government. The party’s insistence on a hard border and resistance to any special arrangements for Northern Ireland created significant challenges in reaching an agreement with the EU going so far as to collapse a deal that was on the verge of being done by Theresa May. This has strained the DUP’s relationship with both the British government and other political parties across the UK, straining even those with their closest allies in the Conservative party, the ERG.
With the DUP’s positions on social issues, such as same-sex marriage is extremely dated, it has increasingly clashed with the prevailing attitudes in England. As societal attitudes evolve, progressive policies have gained more acceptance, and the DUP’s hardline conservative stance on anything and everything have led to a growing sense of impatience and disconnect from their English counterparts.
The DUP’s influence within the British government has also been weakened in recent years. Following the 2017 general election, where the Conservatives failed to secure an outright majority and had to form a minority government, the DUP entered into a confidence and supply agreement with the Conservative Party and were once again kingmakers. This gave the DUP increased leverage and influence over government policies and decisions. However, the subsequent 2019 general election granted the Conservatives a comfortable majority, banishing the DUP to the political wilds.
The changing dynamics regarding the DUP’s relationship with the British government and the mounting impatience from some in England have tangible implications and with the diminishing support from the British government weakening the DUP’s ability to further its Brexit agenda and hold the ear of the British Prime Minister there has been a very real move away from a hardline Brexit stance by the British government owing in part to the downfall of Boris Johnson and the rise of Rishi Sunak. It could also have repercussions for the delicate power-sharing arrangement and the peace process in NEI, with potential implications for stability.
The DUP is being sidelined by the British government and growing impatience from sections of not only the English population but also massive swaths of the NEI population has, in turn, led to Unionists in NEI feeling like no one is listening to them (I wonder why) which can be attributed to a combination of factors including its uncompromising stance on the Irish border issue which has caused years of arguments and instability in NEI even though we voted to remain in the EU, extreme contrasting positions on social issues, and a change in the political landscape. These developments could have significant implications for the DUP’s place in the power-sharing assembly with more than one party calling for a change to the way NEI is run in that if the DUP doesn’t want to sit in Stormont or boycotts it, that’s fine but the rest of the parties who want to work will do and will continue to work as part of the Executive and Assembly.
The DUP’s increasing isolation in NEI can directly be attributed to intransigence on power-sharing, the shameless raping of the GFA to further its own agenda, and its uncompromising stance on the Irish Sea issue during Brexit and during the negotiations on the Protocol and Windsor Framework. The DUP must change, it must move with the times to better reflect the evolving aspirations and needs of NEI’s ever-more diverse population if it wishes to remain relevant because even as the largest Unionist party in NEI, it is losing its grip on what it can realistically achieve on the Windsor Framework issue. If anything, it will be thrown a scrap of something so it can tell its supporters, ‘look what we achieved, look what we were able to force out of the UK government’ and that scrap will be small and insignificant.
The only way back from isolation for the DUP is to work properly with all other parties for the good of everyone in NEI, learn to respect nationalists and others and with Unionism being in the minority, the DUP will be losing influence year on year and will eventually have to commit to doing just that or become the minority party behind Alliance. How the mighty have fallen.
Comments are closed.